You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Overcrowding in London homes will be given greater attention, City Hall’s deputy mayor for housing has pledged.
Following pressure from the London Assembly, James Murray said in a letter to Labour Assembly member Tom Copley that City Hall would take further steps to ensure tackling overcrowding is a priority in the draft London Plan.
Data published by the Greater London Authority (GLA) in 2017 showed that a third of children in social housing and a quarter of children in private rented housing live in overcrowded conditions.
But Mr Copley said little mention is made of the need to tackle overcrowding in the mayor’s draft London Plan, which is currently going through consultation.
In his letter to Mr Copley the deputy mayor for housing said City Hall could “do more to be clear about the range of steps we are taking to ensure tackling overcrowding is a priority and to reflect suggestions like yours of including a KPI in the London Plan measuring bed spaces”.
The deputy mayor also said he had taken on board concerns about a statement in the draft London Plan that two-bedroom homes should be “taken into account” when assessing needs for family housing. He admitted the wording was “not satisfactory” and said he would recommend to the mayor that it be changed.
Mr Copley said: “There has been cross-party concern on the London Assembly about the need to ensure we have policies in place to tackle overcrowding, including ensuring we are building enough family-sized homes. I’m pleased the mayor has listened and offered a number of changes to his draft housing strategy and draft London Plan.
“We’ll continue to push for more and better policies to reduce the number of families in London living in appalling overcrowded conditions. I also encourage Londoners to have their say on the mayor’s proposals during the draft London Plan’s consultation period, which runs until 2 March 2018.”